There is need for more public-private partnerships (PPPs) to meet the Prime Minister’s aim of having 500 million skilled persons by 2022. However, the biggest challenge at present is the acute shortage of trainers.
“We need more trainers to meet the target of 40 million skilled persons annually,” Mr Sharda Prasad, Director General of Employment and Training, Labour Ministry, said. He was addressing the 4th Global Skills Summit here on Thursday, hosted jointly by the Labour Ministry and industry chamber FICCI.
Mr Prasad said the shortage of trainers was despite enhancement in investment as well as the country’s training capacity from about 2.5 million persons in 2006-07 to 5 million at present.
He called upon the private sector to help more in providing trainers to meet the target. The Labour Ministry is setting up 6,500 skill institutes in PPP mode.
Mr S Ramadorai, Adviser, National Skill Development Council, said the focus should be on creating a skills database or a registry. The country’s expertise in technology can play a big role in areas, such as modernisation of employment exchanges into a marketplace for job-seekers.
A paper by FICCI-Ernst & Young, says 75 per cent of new job opportunities will be skill-based. “It is, therefore, essential for the country to evolve a comprehensive qualification framework linking formal education and vocational training, industry linkages in designing courses, certification accreditation etc.,” it said.